(apologies for the grammar, this is a quick translation of a posting on my Welsh blog Clecs Cilgwri)
Last year I rememmber one of the night class asking whether the Wirral had ever been a part of Wales. It's a good question, and one I hadn't really considered before then. It depends I suppose on how you define 'Wales' ("When Was Wales" asked Gwyn A Williams in the title of his book), and of course on the history of the torturously twisting border of today, a border confirmed under the Acts of Union between 1536 and 1543.
Anyway, I was reminded of the discussion once again by a picture which appeared in the October edition of the magazine 'Barn'(opinion), one that represents in paint (i think) Owain Glyndŵr's vision of extending his countrys border to include the 'marcher' counties, from the banks of the Mersey in the North to the Severn Estuary in the South, including places like Worcester, and the Wirral. Certainly neither the 'Welsh' nor the Welsh language where confined to the lands to the west of the border (like today!), but the Wirral had been colonised by Vikings from Ireland in the tenth century, and Saxons of course had arrived before that. So at the time of Glyndŵr, it's unlikely that many of the scattered population of Wirral would have felt 'Welsh'. But if Glyndŵr had won his 'argument' who knows, Wirral could have been a part of Wales, and us Wirralians genuine Welsh!?
